If you knew what we know about breaches of medical record containment, you would OPT OUT without blinking.

Every transaction will be entered on My Health Record. Don’t believe government that it will have fortress-like security. Records are not secure now.

While this is an initiative for some peculiar reason, next step will be an ID CARD. This is Big Brother collecting more information on you. Hasn’t government got enough already? The nation’s health as a whole in one basket… scary! And your DNA. The government may start in years to come to profile you.

Insurance companies and Big Pharma will see this as a treasure-trove of information they will seek to access for purported research purposes. Governments are notorious for farming out such to the private sector. Plus other sticky-beaks such as:

— Employers to deny you employment.

— Big Pharma to flog more drugs for you to take.

— Insurance companies to refuse to insure you.

Plus subpoenas served by:

— Medical defence for court cases.

— Insurance companies to deny your claims.

And remember our governments privatise anything they see as a cash-cow such as our utilities, roads, hospitals, airports, ports, electric light poles and wires, general post office, land titles office and the rest.

Just think what a goody-bag our health records would be.

Don’t forget the many medical errors made every day. Those errors will be transferred to your MY HEALTH RECORD and may kill you.

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND — Infection control at its best. Everything being done to isolate them. An incredible rescue and heart-warming story for all. Well done Thailand Public Health Ministry.

When will we see this in Australian hospital? Where? Hospitals do not isolate patients with deadly infections such as C.difficile, MRSA, VRE, MSSA…. you name it, they are mixed with other patients unaware the patient next to them recovering from surgery can be exposed to golden staph from the next patient. The number of patients who are discharged and never know they have acquired these deadly infections until they end up back in hospital and wonder how.

NEW SOUTH WALES — Woman died of cancer after unnecessary treatment by disgraced doctor

Exclusive: Surgery performed by Emil Shawky GAYED masked growth of uterine cancer as officials fear other women could be at risk

A woman died of cancer after unnecessary and negligent surgery she received at the hands of a disgraced doctor in New South Wales, health officials have confirmed.

She was one of dozens of women harmed by Emil Shawky Gayed, who over the course of at least one decade mutilated and performed harmful surgery on patients.

Health authorities fear there may be many more women still to come forward.

The scandal also raises questions about how those who worked with Gayed did not notice his errors or question unnecessary surgeries and report him earlier.

The president of the Medical Error Action Group, Lorraine Long, told Guardian Australia that she had written to the then NSW health minister John Hatzistergos about Gayed in 2006 because her organisation had received so many serious complaints about him.

But DiRienzo said the hospital had reviewed its database and annual performance reviews for Gayed, and no issues had been recorded or raised until 2015.

MEAG COMMENT: TELSTRA is Australia’s biggest telco. Can’t even administer a telephone utility. Most complained about company in Australia. God help every Australian patient with Telstra’s venture into the health arena. Why the Australian government would give Telstra this contract is beyond belief. What does a telephone utility know about record keeping? Not a lot. Telstra has track record of gross breaches of privacy of customer telephone and internet accounts.

Missed deadlines for the National Cancer Screening Register are affecting more than just Telstra’s hip pocket.

OPINION BY ANTONY SCHOLEFIELD

Poor Telstra. Fresh from apologising for two outages in its phone network, including one affecting the triple-0 emergency line, Telstra’s failings are under the spotlight again.

A recent Senate estimates hearing asked health officials to explain exactly what was happening with the National Cancer Screening Register, for which Telstra was awarded a $200 million contract to establish.

The launch of the register was delayed by six months last year, finally rolling out on 1 December 2017. And because the changes to cervical screening – which replaced Pap smears with five-yearly HPV screening – were linked to the register, this revamp was delayed too.

Under questioning, health officials revealed that Telstra’s pay had been docked over the bungle. Despite being at least 20% of the way into the contract, Telstra had only been paid $11 million, they said.

And fines (not just docked pay) were “certainly an option” if Telstra missed any more deadlines, they added.

Furthermore, although the new register went live in December 2017, patient histories will only be available on the register from the end of this month, which has left doctors with a hybrid model of state and national registries for the past six months.

It’s not all over just yet for Telstra when it comes to cancer registries. It still has to set up a new bowel screening register. This was also due in 2017, but was put on hold while Telstra worked on the cervical cancer register. It is now expected to be up and running in late 2019.

Health officials said the delays to both registers had “no impact on patient services”, but pathologists don’t feel the same way.

Most of the cytologists who processed Pap smear tests quit last year, leaving labs short-staffed.

As a result, analyses were delayed during the May-December period, leaving patients waiting for important results.

MELBOURNE — A baby has died at Sunshine Hospital after waiting almost two hours to be seen by emergency doctors last week.

In another tragedy that has been referred to the coroner, Western Health, which overseas Sunshine Hospital, said the baby was assessed by a triage nurse and the mother and infant were requested to wait in the paediatric room of emergency.

MELBOURNE — The death of an elderly patient from chemotherapy drug toxicity was “entirely preventable”, Victorian Coroner Rosemary Carlin said.

Ian John Gilbert, 77, from Melbourne, died in February 2015 after being prescribed methotrexate for a skin condition, after “extreme concerns” expressed by the dispensing pharmacist about the dose prescribed by the patient’s GP Dr Stephen LIM who assured the pharmacist the dose was correct.

“Mr Gilbert’s death from complications of methotrexate toxicity was needless and entirely preventable,” Coroner Carlin said.

“If appropriate tests had been conducted by his GP, they would have shown that his pre-existing medical conditions contraindicated the use of methotrexate at all.”

“The fact the drug was intended to treat a non-life-threatening skin condition makes his death all the more tragic and the decisions to prescribe and dispense all the more inexplicable.”

The coroner suggested the federal government look into making methotrexate an “authority required medication”.

This one trained in Cairo, Egypt. Currently suspended for an inadequate period (this is the fault of our medical regulators). He’ll be re-applying before long. His welfare will be considered before his harmed patients (another fault of our medical regulators).

Amazing how NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard is suddenly appalled at Gayed’s malpractice. Gayed has had a track record of medical malpractice for years and the health minister doesn’t know of it! How come Medical Error Action Group knows and reported such to his health ministry years ago?

No matter who complains about these unfit medicos, and the harm and devastating outcomes women suffer from, patients complaints are generally ignored and not ever taken seriously. One wonders how many patients have to be harmed before medical regulators act, really act? See previous on what we think of AHPRA.

Australia’s Minister for Health GREG HUNT MP eventually found time to apologise to the Mayor of Katherine NT for his foul-mouthed tirade, boorish and intimidatory behaviour.

Katherine is in the “Top End” of Australia and about 320km south-east of Darwin.

Hunt has been minister for 16 months and this is his No 1 performance to date.

This is the same minister who cannot apologise, let alone answer correspondence, to the thousands of Australians who contracted contaminated blood and have died waiting for an apology, as directed by The Senate, as well as assistance. As for the criminal neglect of our blood supply, Hunt is another minister who condoned the Australian Red Cross Blood Supply criminal cover-up.

Many other issues MEAG has brought to the minister’s attention in the last year he ignores. Hunt is just another minister who doesn’t read anything, just issues abuse. In other words, he has nothing to say.